[Report This]Date: February 21 2025 9:41 AM Title: Chapter 16: The Live After Show
So yeah, I like this ending way more than I did the original!
Jumping to the after show was a really cool idea, and seeing nameless audience member and other Trish's perspective on the show before seeing Kim was awesome! I love how everyone assumed this shit wasn't real and that the very real footage and warnings were "obvious" fakes. That elitist take, saying you can tell something isn't real without actually knowing it, is pretty annoying, so I actually really enjoyed how the audience was frozen in shock when they met the giantess, despite all the evidence telling them that it was.
Other Trish's "Holy shit. Holy shit she's real," was a fun line, especially with Brian reacting to it the way he did. It wasn't exactly a "Trish moment," though (those are reserved for real Trish).
Poor Monica. All of the other survivors (except Candice) have been warped to be happy with their situation, but Monica is still morning the loss of Thomas. I wonder if Kim told her what actually happened to all the outcasts lost on the "raft." Knowing Kim, I have to think she did. Shit, Kim probably convinced herself that Monica would be happy about it before telling her.
Jacob is the most warped out of all the cast members. Or maybe he was always a weak sub who just goes with the flow. His advice to the audience certainly seems to imply the latter. We saw him just kind of give in to Kim more and more as the story went on, so it wasn't really a surprise to see him become a de facto smiling spokesman for Kim.
Brian still seems legitimately smitten with Kim. He picked her out on day one as the hottest, most intriguing contestant on the beach that day, so it makes sense that he's been consistent in his feelings toward her. Unlike Jacob, who just seems to have allowed himself to be bent to Kim's will, Brian's feelings are clearly the most real for Kim out of everyone from the island.
Valerie may be the saddest one of the bunch, though. She's been through so much because of her loyalty to Kim. The vibe I got from her here is that part of her regrets that and makes her nervous around Kim, but she "loves" Kim because that's all she has left. Intentional or not, Kim took everything else away from her and became the center of her universe.
What a terrible way for Candice to die. She was doing something that was once a fun source of tormenting her by Kim, but the giant had gotten bored with it by that point. And we saw that Candice was already broken back when Kim was only 154 feet tall. So there was really no point for Candice to even try doing the measurements at that point! They were just going through the motions. Hell, Kim herself said she wasn't even sure if it was Candice because she was so small. I mean, I have no doubt that it was, but the fact that Kim couldn't even tell just adds more insult to (deadly) injury.
I also love the way Kim teases the audience like she used to tease the cast and crew on the island in the earlier days of her growth. She was having so much fun in her first public appearance!
And the fact that Charlie, after all the shit he pulled, actually succeeded in having a hit show and making Kim a star was so frustrating ... at first. The ending was oddly satisfying because of this, though. He got his in the end (even if an entire town built just for the new show had to get theirs too). I loved how Kim called out his shit, his negotiating, in her head just before killing him and everyone else in the town. I wonder if he finally realized that he never had any control over Kim at all and that he meant nothing to her in his final moments.
But Kim herself gets a pretty tragic end as well. All that talk about never wanting to stop growing, and now she's regretting it big time! Seeing her lament how all the fun had gone away from being a giant after she stopped being able to tell who was who or see the terror on the tinies' faces anymore felt like a unique bout of karma. Kim is the most powerful being in existence, but she'll never be anything other than bored again!
And just like at the start of the story, Kim is left without a relationship, looking for a love she'll never find. Only, instead of being the sympathetic figure she was at the start of the story, that fate, more solidified than before, now seems more earned than anything.
I didn't read all of the original story, but man did I enjoy this version! And the bits that I did read before came out so much better here! You really killed this rework! Fuck, I'm still trying to recover from the awesomeness of the vore scene from last chapter! Now you've given us Kim stepping on a whole town in a single step?! Fucking awesome!
Much like after I finished reading Growing Closer, I find myself incredibly eager to see what you write next, whatever it might be!
Author's Response:
Thank you! I'm much happier with this version than the previous one.
As always, thank you so much for the effort you put into these reviews. I'm already working on my next story and have sent a chapter in advance to some people on the discord. If you'd like to see it too just DM me!
Author's Response:
Thank you! I'm much happier with this version than the previous one.
As always, thank you so much for the effort you put into these reviews. I'm already working on my next story and have sent a chapter in advance to some people on the discord. If you'd like to see it too just DM me!